"This year we knew we were going to be recruiting basically right up until the last day we could get student-athletes in just because of our unusual circumstances," Golden told reporters Saturday. "We're pleased with those guys that they could join our team -- and obviously at positions that we just don't have enough depth right now."

Golden said King arrived Friday. Wells has been with the team for two days. Golden said Alexis "has already been fully integrated" -- meaning he's been here for more than five days.

Of Alexis, Golden said: "Real tough kid. Obviously [defensive line coach] Jethro and [recruiting coordinator] Brennan [Carroll] knew about him and had a chance to evaluate him and knew a lot about him. He was at Crenshaw, a kid we thought really hard about bringing in January. We had the room to bring him in now. So we chose to have him here and train him rather than a JUCO, community college or prep school. He looks great is closing in on 270 right now. I'm sure he'll be at 285 by the time close in on the spring."

Of Wells, Golden said: "Hunter is a big, physical kid. He's over 300 pounds, about 6-foot-5. He can really run well."

Golden confirmed what we and other outlets reported last night that February signees Antonio Kinard and Kevin Grooms won't be playing for the Hurricanes because they didn't qualify in time.

Asked if Grooms, a star running back from South Broward High, won't be on the team at all, Golden said: "Not at this point. He's not going to be able to join us at this point and we're still working through that."

A FEW MORE TIDBITS...

> Asked which players pushed to be the last to make it on the travel bus to Maryland, Golden said: "Well, Kacy Rodgers did. Then he got a little head injury, which he'll be fine, but that was really disappointing. Eduardo Clements made a fantastic push down the end. Rashawn Scott made a great push down the end, Dallas Crawford, some of the young linebackers. There was a lot of push down the end, especially from a special teams standpoint, to get on that plane. We'll have a couple empty seats than normal. But we're excited about the group going."

> Golden said safety Andrew Swasey, who is not on the two-deep, "is doing great. He's starting for us on two or three special teams. He is clearly in the mix at safety. Andrew has done a great job, obviously still learning the job."

> Golden said former defensive tackle Jeremy Lewis is making a nice transition to offense. "He's doing great. He made the travel squad. He's shown a lot of progress. He's had as good a camp as anybody. He's in good shape and he's really doing a nice job for us at guard."